Page 5 of Don't Hate the Player

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Wizzard Games and Claricom are proud to announce their dual ownership of the East Coast’s first all-Esports stadium venue. Just a few steps from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Wizzard-Claricom Arena will host team and individual Esports tournaments in a fully interactive, 3,000-seat video theater.

In honor of the Wizzard-Claricom partnership, Wizzard Games invites Diamond-Tier amateur teams from the studio’s flagship Guardians League Online franchise to participate in the arena’s first live GLO tournament. Teams will be chosen with local and leaderboard preference and will compete for a grand prize of $200,000.

Whoa. Team Fury is the top-ranked team on all Philly-based servers, so local and leaderboard preference means we’re a lock for the tournament, right? We have to be. Fury Discord is exploding with responses from my team members, and in the middle of the eighteen straight lines of party parrots, there is Byunki with my answer.

Wizzard contacted me this morning. Meeting tonight on the Fury server. Get ready to win.

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A live tournament. Winning two hundred thousand dollars. I’m so excited at the idea of competing with Fury that it takes my brain a moment to catch up to the fact that live meanslive. In person. With my face in front of people.

“Lia, you okay? You look really awake now compared to, like, five seconds ago.”

“All good. Family stuff. News,” I mutter. “Hey, Penny, I need a second.”

“Fine with me. I’m gonna go make copies of the flyer. If you want to talk, though, I’m here.”

She doesn’t press the matter any further and gathers her books into her backpack. On her way out of the library, Penny struts past the gamers, and I see her ask for (more like demand) a cupcake to go with her latte, which is so on brand I have to laugh. The guy who was looking at me earlier gives one to her without question. I kind of feel bad for glaring at him now. Happy birthday, dork.

Another buzz from my phone reminds me to keep checking the Fury Discord. Byunki wants our full names, addresses, phone numbers, all the stuff he’ll have to put on the competition paperwork to get us submitted as a team. The other guys are chucking their info in main chat as fast as they can type, but I click through to send Byunki a DM instead.

Can I get that to you tonight?I type. I don’t want to test his patience, but I need time to think, or plan, or . . . ?something before I agree to competing live.

Are you in or not?he responds.

Come on. Byunki of all people should know why I would hesitate. He knows that I don’t give out any info or even go on voice chat when I play with anyone besides our team. When he tapped me for Team Fury, I had to explain everything that had happened, and he said he would give me a chance anyway.

Not hard to find another DPS, he follows up.There are a million of you and only one Fury.

And only one shot at winning two hundred stacks on the biggestGLOstage ever created. This tournament is about more than the money. It’s glory. It’s going from being a nobody to being a legend at something I really, really love to do. Fury’s famous enough for their dominance in online tournaments, but this would catapult them to a whole different level. They’ll make it there with me or without me.

I want them to do it with me, though. I don’t think I’ve wanted anything more in the history of my life, ever. To hell with the consequences. Not gonna pass this up.

I’m in, I tap with quivering thumbs.I’m Fury all the way.

My phone buzzes in my hand again, not from the Fury Discord. I have been tagged in a photo on Instagram. Penny worked her filtering magic so our campaign announcement matches the rest of her grid, and our smiles make us look like we know we’ve already won the election. The end of her caption catches my eye—Make sure to vote on October 13th!

If we start now, the campaign should last four weeks, right? Something about that doesn’t sit right with me, so I reopen my Discord to check if the heavy sense of dread I’m beginning to feel is justified. The first round of theGLOtournament is this weekend, and then the tournament itself will last . . . yup, those exact four weeks.

Back on Instagram, the likes and comments are rolling in on Penny’s post: “queens,” “voting 4 u,” “omg perfect,” “flawless,” “women! in! the! sequel!” with clap hands between each word. Every stupid heart feels like someone’s flicking me on the side of my head. Penny needs me to win her election, and I need to win the tournament with Fury at the exact same time. How the hell is this going to work?